Fiji win the HSBC World Rugby Canada Sevens Series hosted by Rugby Canada

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is one of the most dynamic global sporting events on the market, featuring the dynamism of sevens rugby, paired with a spectacle of entertainment and fan engagement that is second to none.

Sportlomo CEO, Seamus Kyne was invited by Rugby Canada to attend the World Rugby Sevens held in Vancouver on the 10th/11th March 2018.

The 2018 Series will include ten tournaments held around the world, in which 16 national sevens teams compete for World Series points at each round. The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is culminated with a champion being crowned at the end of the season based on accumulated points.

Each Series stop has the 16 teams divided into 4 even pools based on previous rankings. Day 1 of each tournament consists of round-robin play within pools. Day 2, the bottom two teams of each pool will contest in the Challenge Trophy competition, while the higher seeded teams will progress to the Cup competition and have the chance to win gold, silver, or bronze medals.

The electricity of rugby sevens debuted at the Rio 2016 Olympics and kept the world on the edge of their seats, delivering a roller coaster of a tournament including big plays, unsung heroes, and overwhelming excitement. It concluded with an emphatic victory by the ‘Flying Fijians’, who brought their country its first ever gold medal.

There are 15 ‘core’ teams who participate at each round of the Series. The 2018 core includes: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Spain, Kenya, New Zealand, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA, and Wales.

Traditionally, fans attend the Canada HSBC Sevens in their ‘fanciest’ attire. This means coming dressed in anything from cowboy boots to a beaver onesie, so plenty of entertainment on and off the field.

About the Sevens Rugby Game

Sevens is on the rise internationally, touted as one of the most exciting spectator sports on the market, Sevens is a knock-down, drag-out show of power, speed and agility featuring just seven players a-side covering a full-size rugby pitch. Scoring is frequent, and feats of extreme athleticism are jammed into every play of each short game. The best part is, you don’t have to know anything about rugby to fall in love with the spectacle, and it doesn’t take long to figure the game out if you try.

Sevens Rugby is a variant of rugby union featuring just seven players a-side, playing on a full-size field by much of the same rules as the original 15-player game. While a regular rugby union match lasts at least 80 minutes, a sevens match consists of two halves of seven minutes with a one-minute half-time break.

The Rugby Sevens Laws in a Snapshot

Seven players per team compete on the field (compared to 15).
Each team gets five substitutes, with unlimited interchanges (compared to 7 and 7).

Seven-minute halves (compared to 40-minute halves, in fifteen-a-side).
Matches tied after regulation time are continued into sudden-death extra time.

Conversion attempts are drop-kicked (instead of the option to place-kick).
Conversions must happen within 40 seconds of scoring a try (compared to 60 seconds).

Scrums include only three players per side (instead of eight players).
Kick-offs: the team which has just scored kicks off, (rather than the conceding team).

Yellow cards get a 2-minute suspension in the sin-bin (instead of 10 minutes) (yes, just like a powerplay!). Suspensions hurt more in Sevens than in Fifteens. Losing 1 man out of 7 opens up an incredible amount of space for their opponent.